Movie Review – The Dark Knight – Jokertastic!

Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham’s new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker’s crimes grow more and more deadly.

Honestly I think Christopher Nolan can do no wrong….he’s only made 8 movies and 3 are in the top 250 on IMDB…and I’m guessing this will make it 4 (Memento, The Prestige and Batman Begins).

He’s back again to take us on another rollercoaster, Batman Begins was hailed as one of the best superhero movies of all time and it really returned to the roots of Gotham City..dark, brooding, nasty and violent. The character of Bruce Wayne was captured by a fantastic Christian Bale – he’s fast becoming one of the best actors around.

And this…The Dark Knight, just rocks in and blows you away. It’s sad, truly sad that Heath Ledger is gone and I would be surprised if he doesn’t nail an Oscar for his performance…he’s truly terrifying, unhinged and totally believable as the joker. It’s hands down one of the best performances in any movie I’ve ever seen. RIP Heath, you surely went out with a bang.

This movie delves deep into the character of Batman and Bruce Wayne, his own flaws and how the Joker desires to make him look at himself and why he does it – does he have a deep down loathing for society? It’s a character study and a gripping one at that. The cinematography is perfect along with the sound-track – it really takes you there.

The Batpod comes out, and it’s awesome! Christian Bale is great as Bruce Wayne and Batman, although the spotlight isn’t on him so much in this movie.

Maggie Gyllenhaal was better than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins….but still not the strongest player in the movie.

The rest of the regulars put in great performances (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman). Not sure about Aaron Eckhart still..The Scarecrow made a very brief entrance too, but wasn’t really part of the movie.

The movie was long, and in places it felt it – this would be my one and only complaint. If not for that it’s near perfection. This is the most I’ve written about a movie for a long time and I definitely have to get a BluRay version of this to watch on a huge HD projector at some time in the future.

I give it a dark and dastardly 9/10, definitely close to being best movie of the year.

I still feel elite as I saw this movie on Tuesday…and IMDB still doesn’t have a rating because not enough people have watched it!

Actually tens of thousands of people have seen it before today via preview screenings and press junkets. Just that IMDb doesn’t update the ratings until at least the US date of release of the film – which is tomorrow (July 18th).

I definitely think this qualifies for movie of the year. For once a graphic novel adaptation has shed the stigma attached to it and combines great cinematography, compelling performances and awe inspiring special effects.

i think this show is more about the joker … havent watch it cause cant get the tickets at the moment … but i heard the actor of the joker is dead .. izzit true ? i think so cause read some comments above .. too bad … we will miss him but he left us with a great movies …

did you realise that they first censored Harvey Dent’s face in the hospital but later on he showed his face anyway? weird. and did u realise that there were no background music sounds accompanying the IMAX action sequences?

Clearly you have no idea how the Oscars work so please prepared to be “surprised” cause Heath Ledger will NOT (yes I repeat for all you so called movie buffs), he will NOT be getting an oscar. There’s plenty of reasons to support that claim and if one actually knew the process and concept of Oscar one would see it. There is absolutely no doubt on the quality of this movie but to think just because the late Heath’s role and his death will get him a posthumous oscar it is an awful disrespect to many things. Just because a great actor passed away does not qualify him for an “oscar nomination” what more a win. Here are the facts:

1. “Batman” isnt the kind of movie that the oscar people or committee go into… its just the wrong genre.

2. The movie title is “The Dark Knight” not “The Joker” which means Heath Ledger not only has to share already limited screen time with Batman, but also Bruce Wayne (yes 2 separate entities), Batman gadgets (Batpod etc), Harvey Dent PLUS the very smooth Morgan Freeman. There is no way in hell he would ever get enough screen time to even be close to a nomination.

3. One must also “hope” that the rest of the movies release from now till January are rubbish qualities that will make “The Dark Knight” look even better than before. Memory and attention span is something one cannot control and come Oscar nomination day, you can be sure Heath will be “forgotten”. It would be good if he gets a lifetime achievement award though.

4. In the past, there has been many more “spectacular” posthumous movies but they never even got close.

Why am I so “serious” about this Oscar “thingy” (pun intended)? Its because its very disrespectful to the many other people who are still alive and creating good movies and excellent portrayal of roles in this world that people are just screaming everywhere “Heath deserves an Oscar”. Much as I thought his performance was top notch, spot on, and just downright superb… it would not be good to give him an Oscar just out of “sympathy”. And the Academy Awards organisers will definately steer clear of that…that I am pretty much sure about.

ps: IMDB ratings are just awfully… skewed. To say “The Dark Knight” is better and higher rated than some of the classics is a pretty long shot. Perhaps… but just perhaps had Heath stayed alive and got to reprise his role in the next Batman movie where less character development is required (which gives him even more screen time)… perhaps just then will the Oscars consider this “genre” in its nomination. Until then, RIP Heath Ledger and let not the fanatics assume this was your best role ever…